Inquest: Asylum seeker 'entered brain death' before reaching Brisbane

An asylum seeker who died in a Brisbane hospital after a cut on his leg became infected on Manus Island was suspected to be entering the early stages of brain death before he left Papua New Guinea, a Brisbane court has heard.

Hamid Khazaei, 24, was pronounced dead in the Mater Hospital on September 5, 2014, after being flown from the island detention centre to a hospital in PNG and then on to Brisbane.

Asylum seeker Hamid Khazaei was pronounced dead in the Mater Hospital in 2014, after being flown from the Manus Island detention centre to a hospital in PNG and then on to Brisbane. Photo: Supplied

But counsel assisting the coroner, Emma Cooper, on Tuesday told a pre-inquest hearing into his death that he suffered multiple heart attacks as he was treated in PNG's Pacific International Hospital as early as August 26.

"Mr Khazaei was reported to be deeply comatose, with fixed dilated pupils," she said.

Khazaei's brain was believed to be entering brain death as he was treated in PNG's Pacific International Hospital. Photo: Supplied

"It was suspected he was going into the early stages of brain death."

The Port Moresby hospital didn't have equipment to confirm the Iranian asylum seeker's brain death but it was confirmed on September 2 and his life support was turned off three days later.

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Ms Cooper said the inquest's overarching issue would be "whether the authorities charged with providing for Mr Khazaei's physical healthcare needs adequately discharged those responsibilities with respect to the condition of his leg".

She said it wasn't clear whether the inquest needed to extend beyond Mr Kharzaei's care on Manus Island and his transfer to PNG to the care he received at the hospital, but there didn't seem to be any issues with his transfer to Brisbane and treatment at the Mater.

He ordered International Health and Medical Services (IHMS), the company responsible for medical care on Manus Island, and other relevant parties including the PNG hospital and the aeromedical crews who flew Mr Khazaei to the hospital, provide statements by the same date.

Mr Khazaei had been detained on Manus Island since September 6 the previous year, after about a month in detention on Christmas Island.

Ms Cooper said that on August 23, doctors on Manus started treating the 24-year-old with intravenous antibiotics for the infection and two days later recommended he be transferred urgently to the Port Moresby hospital, which was done about lunchtime on August 26.

"It seems that by this time Mr Khazaei was delirious and suffering from deteriorating lung function, suspected to be as a result of the infection," she said.

Another pre-inquest hearing is due to be held in late November or early December, where the inquest's focus is likely to be defined once the coroner has received an autopsy report and other information.

Mr Khazaei's family, the Australian government, the Mater Hospital and Doctors without borders were all represented at the hearing.